TZ junior golf team in hard Africa fight

NATIONAL junior under 18 golf boys’ team started at the 8th place after the first round of the All-Africa Golf Junior Team Championship 2024

TANZANIA: NATIONAL junior under 18 golf boys’ team started at the 8th place after the first round of the All-Africa Golf Junior Team Championship 2024.

The tournament that brings together 15 African junior under-18 teams, commences on Tuesday at the Benoni Country Club, in Benoni, South Africa, found it hard for local boys. It will conclude tomorrow.

Tanzania team collected an aggregate of 249 strokes, 38 off the pace of leaders South Africa, after the first round. Each team enters four players, but three best scores count at each round in the 72-hole showdown.

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Team Captain, Karim Ismail, led other two players, Mwinzani Mpyange and Aladin Rashid, to contribute to the team first first-round score.

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The trio each carded 83 grosses, while Ramadhani Matinga’s 89 strokes could not count. South Africa, Morocco and Kenya are leading the tournament, with respective gross scores of 211, 229 and 231 for the listed boys’ national teams.

Tanzania Golf Union (TGU) Handicap Secretary, Enock Magile the head of the team delegate complemented the juniors for their fighting spirit.

Magile told the ‘Daily News’ from South Africa yesterday that the juniors are fighting hard but their opponent’s level is far away.

“The team is in good shape, the course is good the only challenge is greens are very fast, but I had to admit that we compete against very strong teams. We will continue to fight until the end to improve,” he said.

The team underwent intensive training under the professional coach of Lugalo Club, Athumani Chiundu, ahead of the stiff competition.

They were in second-round action yesterday while the third round will be underway today.

Other competing teams and scores in brackets are Zimbabwe (232), Ghana (240), Namibia (241), Egypt (247), Tunisia (249), Réunion (249), Tanzania (249), Mauritius (256), Uganda (257), Malawi (262), Botswana (269) and Côte D’Ivoire at the bottom with (275) gross.

Organised and supported by the golf world governing body the Royal Golf of Ancient of Scotland (R&A), the All Africa Golf Confederation, and hosts Golf RSA, the event brings together boys and girls category teams. It gives juniors the chance to test themselves against the best young golfers in Africa.

The top two boys’ teams and the winner in the girls’ category will qualify for the Toyota World Junior Championship, which will take place in Japan later this year.